OTTAWA -- Julie Findlay, educator and ‘Mom in the Know’ shares some ideas for fun learning opportunities while schools remain closed.

Library Visit

Free online resources for consumer research, online classes, language learning newspaper reading and more.

Extra-Curricular

City of Ottawa is providing Visual Art and Recreation Programs for all ages.

Field Trips

Museums and galleries

National Gallery of Canada: Virtual NGC presents online access to some of the Gallery’s Canadian, Indigenous and international collections. Plus, kids and adults can get creative with online activities.

Canadian Museum of History: The Museum at Home portal brings Canada’s most visited museum to your home, including a 360˚ tour of the Canadian History Hall, exhibitions, crafts, games, films and more.

Canadian War Museum: You can access online exhibitions, videos, activities, resources, and even behind-the-scenes content through the Museum at Home portal.

Canadian Museum of Nature: The museum invites you to Explore Nature through their 3D self-guided tour, virtual behind-the-scenes tours, videos, activities and more.

Canada Science and Technology Museum, Canada Aviation and Space Museum, Canada Agriculture and Food Museum: The three Ingenium museums have gathered Online Resources for Science at Home including virtual tours, digital learning kits, games and apps, recipes, online collections and more.

Diefenbunker: Take virtual tours of the historic underground bunker (now Canada’s Cold War Museum) and try their online activities including colouring pages, jigsaw puzzles, an online game and more.

Ottawa Art Gallery: Explore Virtual OAG for virtual tours, videos, interviews and activities related to current and past exhibitions featuring local and regional art.

Bytown Museum: Explore Ottawa’s history by taking a virtual tour of the exhibitions housed in the city’s oldest stone building, and by viewing the museum’s collection and filmed performances.

Bank of Canada Museum: Have fun whilelearning about the Canadian economy with lesson plans, activities, and more.

Events and performances

National Arts Centre: Through their #CanadaPerforms series, Canada’s home for the performing arts regularly livestreams music, dance, theatre and other performances by Canadian artists.

Sound and Light Show – Northern Lights on Parliament Hill: Enjoy a virtual show of this annual event which is normally projected onto Centre Block every day in the summer with English and French audio. An online activity kit contains crafts, games and more.

Canadian Tulip Festival: Take the Virtual Tulip Legacy Garden Tour to learn the history and horticulture behind this popular spring festival, and download pretty colouring pages.

Ottawa Chamberfest: The largest chamber music festival in the world offers online performances broadcasted live and followed by a Q&A session with the artists.

Local live music: Live Music Lovers Ottawa regularly compiles lists of locally-based performances (livestreamed as well as live).

Get out Get Active

Ottawa Tourism gives us the Best Ice SKating Experiences in Ottawa

Walking - Hiking - Winter Biking - Snowshoeing and more is just a click away at Winter in the Capital

Toboganning / Sliding

Find a nice hill with a good slope (not too steep). Be sure to take a test run by yourself first before sending the kids down. Check for large rocks, tree roots, debris or pipes hidden under the snow.

Map of Ottawa Toboggan Hills